Pilots baffled over FAA's decision to ground flights after NOTAM system crash trends now
There is growing confusion over the FAA's decision to ground all US flights this morning following the failure of a digital safety update system which many pilots say is not crucial, and should never have halted air traffic.
According to the FAA, a problem with its NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system meant all flights had to land and stay grounded until 9am.
It has now been fixed, but the outage caused catastrophic delays across the country; more than 8,000 flights have been delayed and 1,000 canceled with more disappointment on the way as airlines and airport scramble to play catchup.
The FAA is yet to explain what prompted the outage or why there was no back-up in place to keep flights in the air.
Passengers at Miami International Airport on Wednesday after a 'computer failure' halted all flights for several hours and delayed thousands of planes across the United States
Canada's NOTAM system also went down on Wednesday with no explanation - but the country's flights continued without delay.
Now, US pilots are also expressing their confusion, with some describing the system going down as 'no big deal', prompting further questions over why flights were grounded as a result.
They say that there are plenty of other ways for pilots to receive the notices, and that until recently, it was done by phoning flight safety centers.
Now, they are asking whether the chaos is down to the fact that there weren't enough personnel in those safety centers to man the phones, or if it was a rush to judgement by incompetent decision-makers.
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a former Lt. Col. in the Air National Guard, tweeted that there was 'absolutely no safety concern'.
'Currently, everything is so digital that once the system goes down, I don't think they have enough personnel to accommodate everybody's phone calls
Private pilot Ervin Coburn
'It’s no big deal at all. It is absolutely no safety concern. None.
'It’s nice when it’s up but there are so many other ways to get NOTAM,' he said, fueling questions over why the flights were grounded.
Ervin Coburn, a private pilot who lives in Washington, told DailyMail.com: 'Back in the day, we'd just make a phone call.
'Currently, everything is so digital that once the system goes down, I don't think they have enough personnel to accommodate everybody's phone calls. They have all the current information - it's just a matter of getting it to the pilots.
'These problems are always down to budget cuts or personnel cuts.'
In 2021, under Buttigieg's tenure as Transportation Secretary, the FAA changed the decades-long
